1900- 



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Book ■ r(">^r !i3 





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IN MEMORIAM. 



HON. MONROE L HAYWARD, 



Senator-elect from Nebraska. 



EULOGY OF MR. E. J. BURKETT, 



OF" NEBRASKA, 



IN THE 



HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, 



Saturday, March 17, 1900. 



WASHINGTON. 

1900. 













/" , -r f 



EULOGY 

OF 

MR. E. J. BURKETT 



EULOGY ON THE LATE SENATOR HAYWARD. 

The SPEAKER. The hour of 1 o'clock was set apart for eulo- 
gies on the late Senator Hayward; and asthere is nothing laore 
pending before the House, without objection, the exercises will be 
taken up at this time. 

There was no objection. 

Mr. BURKETT. Mr. Speaker, 1 desire to offer the following 
resolutions, and ask that they be adopted. 

The Clerk read as follows: 

Eesolved, That it is with profound sorrow and regret that the Honse has 
beard of the death of Hon. Monroe L. Haywahd, late Senator-elect from 
the State of Nebraska. 

Resolved, That, as a mark of respect to the memory of the deceased, the 
bnsiuess of the House be suspended to enable his friends to pay proper trib- 
ute of regard to his high character and distinguished worth. 

Bcsolved, That the House communicate these resolutions to the Senate and 
transmit a copy thereof to the family of the deceased with the action of the 
House thereon. 

Resolved, That, n-s an additional mark of respect, the House, at the conclu- 
sion of these ceremonies, do adjourn. 

The resolutions v>'ere agreed to. 

Mr, BURKETT. Mr. Speaker, the gentleman from Nebraska, 
Mr. Robinson, is not able to be present to-day, and 1 ask unani- 
mous consent that permi.ssion be given to him, and to such other 
gentlemen as would like to avail themselves of the privilege, to 
print their remarks in the Record. 

The SPEAKER. The gentleman from Nebraska asks unani- 
mous consent to permit members to print remarks on the pending 
order. Is there objection? [After a pau.se. J The Chairs hears 
none, and it is so ordered. 

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Mr. BURKETT. Mr. Speaker, in beginning my remarks I de- 
sire to read a little from the Congressional Directory of the first 
session of the Fifty-sixth Congress: 

Monroe Lei.and Hayward, Bepublican, of Nebraska City, was born in 
"Willsboro, Essex County, N. Y., December 22, IMO; enlisted in the Twenty- 
socoud New York Infantry at the beginuinc: of the civil war, and was after- 
wards transferred to the Fifth New York Cavalry; discharged in December, 
1802, owing to disability arising from sickness; on returning home entered 
Fort Edward Collegiate Institute, where he completed his education; in the 
meantime his father had removed to Wisconsin, and he followed; studied law 
at Whitewater, Wis., and removed to Nebraska in 180", settling at Nebraska 
City, where he has resided ever since and practiced his profession; was a 
member of the State constitutional convention in 1873; filled out a term on 
the district bench by appointment of the governor in 1880; was the Repub- 
lican candidate for governor in the fall of 1898, and was defeated by 3,000 
votes; was elected United States Senator, to succeed William Vinx'ent 
Allen. March 8, 1899. 

His term of service will expire March 3, 1905. 

That is briefly the life of our late beloved Senator from Ne- 
braska as the compiler wrote it. 

But that was written while the Senator was yet alive and 
among us. Now it does not satisfy us. We would know more 
of him. We would go into detail; follow his life more closely and 
from it draw inspiration and hope. 

When that was written we did not need more, we did not want 
more; for he was himself to all who knew him— the revelation of 
his own life and character, most reliable and instructive and im- 
pressive. 

His life, like a book, could not be published until the last chap- 
ter was written, for it was growing better and broader and more 
beautiful all the while. But he has gone from among us. The 
deeds of his life are now history, and what may be said of him 
will need no revision for subsequent data. 

We have set apart this day for eulogy upon his life and char- 
acter, and when those who wish shall have spoken, we shall atl- 
journ this House out of respect to his memory. 

The biography which I have just read is but a paragraph. It 
covers but a small part of one page of the book. All men's history 
can be told in about equal time, while they live. The little and 
the great alike need but small space and little of printer "s ink to 
satisfy their fellow-men. 

But how different after death. So long as a man lives we are 

4212 



content with a modicum of information about him, comparatively 
speaking. We like to know from whence he sprting, his source, 
and in some instances his resources, what he is capable of doing, 
what he has accomplished, and what he is now. From a laboring 
man applying for employment to a Presidential candidate the 
category varies but little. Hence his birthplace, his acquired 
titles, and his politics are about all the Clerk has put in the Con- 
gressional Directory. 

But that is not sufficient now. It does not satisfy us. There is 
a longing to know more of him. We want to know not merely 
where he was born and when, but what made him Senator! Ah! 
more yet than that; we not only would know what made him Sen- 
ator Hayward, but what made him the great-hearted, noble- 
minded, and beloved ''Judge Hayward," as we knew him so long. 

These latter traits made him Senator, The office added nothing 
to his " parts, "nor indeed to the affection of his constituents. The 
office was but the expression of that affeclion. 

Tliose of us who knew Senator Hayward (and I regret that you 
did not all know him well) realize that no biography, of whatever 
dimensions, will ever do justice to his character and ability, and 
that no eulogy will compute the good that he has accomplished. 

The choicest things in a great man's life can never be written. 
They assume forms for which the human language has no words 
delicate enough to describe. 

There is a power of i)resence indescribable in a truly great man, 
and while understood and appreciated it can not be told. There 
are no words for it. 

By this power of presence or personality in a man, indescribable, 
and its influence for good, I sjieak of the influence which Lowell 
meant when he said: 

The very room, coz she was in, seemed warm from floor to ceiliug. 

I apeak of the power of the presence alone of Napoleon, which 
the Duke of Wellington said " equaled forty thousand men." I 
speak of the presence of a godly man, though he say not a word. 
I speak of the air suiTounding a great man, the potent force, the 
"still small voice" of living and doing and walking and acting 
that can not be told. 

Nevertheless it is there and, like the subtle aroma of the rose. 



permeates the entire community in which he is, and all men and 
things are better and sweeter because he lives. 

Most books are read by scanning the title page, perhaps, then 
glancing at the introduction, and, possibly, casually looking over 
the index. There are fev; books that stand this test sufficiently to 
warrant further consideration. 

Bacon says; 

Some books are to be tasted, otliers are to be swallowed, and some few are 
to be chewed and digested. 

And as with books, so with men. Not all will sustain extended 
biographies. The deeds of life have not merited it, nor will the 
resulting benefits to the world warrant it. 

If biography is ever beneficial and worthy of reading, if the 
deeds and motives are ever worthy of example, we may well give 
ear to the life and acts and motives of our late Senator. 

Extend his biography, and you have the history of Nebraska. 
Extol his virtues, and you have noble example. Recite his deeds, 
and you get inspiration. The world is better because he lived. 
He did something for his State, his country, and humanity. 

He came to Nebraska the year that the State came into the 
Union of States. As Nebraska assumed the responsibilities of 
etatehood he donned the toga of a Nebraska citizen. Nebraska 
was ayoungState, and he was ayoungman. Nebraska grew,and 
he developed with her. He endured the cares and vicissitudes of 
the new country and waxed strong in their midst. He and the 
State gi-ew together. 

Senator Hayward was never for a moment a blank in Nebraska 
affairs. The State needed his counsel and his indomitable energy 
every moment. He was not an "officeholder" nor, indeed, an 
"office seeker;*' but the story of the State could not be written 
with him left out. He framed her constitution as a member of 
the convention. He counseled in her legislation. He interpreted 
her laws as judge. He broke her boundless prairies and turned 
them into a cornfield unsurpassed in the world; he developed her 
industries; he brought to every question and condition thrift, 
energy, integrity, perseverance, and industry. 

With these qualities he mastered the problems that confronted 
the new State, and instead of chaos and uncertainty set up law 
and order. And with these instruments of peace and tranquillity 



he brought to her fame and respect abroad; security and confi- 
dence at home. 

He was alwa^ys a conspicuous figure in Nebraska. From the 
time of his arrival in the State he was associated with and in 
competition with the strongest men intellectually. He settled iu 
Nebraska City, where have lived many of the strongest men, not 
only in our State, but in the nation. 

He had for his contemporaries at home such meu as O. P. 
Mason, late chief justice of our supreme court and a man of giant 
intellect; Senator Tipton, who but recently died in this city, ac- 
knowledged to be one of the strongest men who ever sat in the 
American Senate, and Senator Van Wyck, who doubtless m?ny 
here now will remember. Hon. J. Sterling Morton, of whom all 
Nebraskans are proud as the Secretary of Agriculture in Mr. 
Cleveland's Cabinet, also lives in the same city, and has been hia 
neighbor and contemporary for more than a quarter of a century. 

Mr. Morton and Mr. HvYAVARodid not always agree in politics. 
Against each other there was waged the bitterest warfare politi- 
cally. Each, the leader of his own party, of course received full 
front the onslaughts of the otlier. Each had been the candidate 
of his party for the highest gift within the elective power of the 
people of the State; but, to the glory of both, in 189S, when Judge 
Hayward was the candidate for governor, Mr. Morton threw 
aside all political prejudices, sunk old animosities beneath his 
gi'eat love of home and State and the vital principles for which 
Mr. H.W'WARD stood, and, leaving behind him political traditions, 
supported Mr. Hayward. 

It is pleasant to recall that these two great leaders, for a quar- 
ter of a centurj\ of opposing forces, always personal friends, 
should stand shoulder to shoulder, heart to heart, and. from ttie 
same platform, battle for the same principles and truths and 
candidates in the last political conflict that Senator Hayward 
should be permitted to enter. 

Senator Hayward was not well known in Washington, at least 
in Senatorial circles. We regret that it is so. We are proud of 
him in Nebraska, and every man in the Senate would have been 
proud of him as a colleague. But he never occupied a chau- as 
Senator. The silent reaper, Death, cut him off from the world 
before he was permitted to enter this Capitol as a Senator. He 



8 

was not permitted to adorn yonder splendid Chamber. His voice 
had no opportunity to give utterance to his wisdom nor to express 
his kindliness of heart. 

As a Senator be is not judged, either here or at hoiiie, and as a 
Senator we shall not speak of him. For, exalted as that position 
is, it did not make him great. He was exalted in iiublic opinion 
before he became Senator. He was a strong man and beloved 
without the title. The position was liut a golden remembrance 
from his loving fellow-citizens. 

He stood high as a lawyer and as a judge. He ranked well as a 
business man. He was quick of perception, keen in discerning, 
and of good judgment. His counsel was sought in all affairs as 
worthy of consideration. 

He was a student. His life was one of work. His was an ac- 
tive disposition. No stuffed countenance of feigned learning was 
his; no assumed ''parts;" no arrogated greatness to which he w<is 
a stranger. But what he appeared to be he was, and what he 
was was apparent— a strong-minded, cultured, unassuming man. 

He was not a wit. He was not a " brilliant ■' man as commonly 
expressed, resplendent in the effulgence of natural abilities alone. 
That was not the impression he made. His was the trained mind. 
His was wisdom wrought oiat with sledge-hammer blows in im- 
perishable steel. His years of careful researcn and experience 
had developed a giant intellect. His contact with the world had 
molded and shaped that intellect into an instrument of power 
and beauty. His mind was a gem of matchless worth; yet it was 
dressed and polished only as a pebble washed down the dancing, 
chattering brook, by constant collision with the debris by the 
wayside. 

A strong mind, a fii'mness of purpose, a quickness of resolution, 
a never-ending devotion to what he laid his hands to, made his 
attacks irresistible and his defense impregnable. 

With these qualities he wi'ought for the world and humanity, 
and for this he is loved. It is always by what men accomplish 
that they are measured ; for what they do that they are loved or 
despised. Men are not measured by what they are capable of 
doing, but rather hy what they do. 

I once heard a preacher say " There are many untaught Jennie 

4243 



9 

Linds on Nebraska prairies." But he tittered only half a truth, 
and he could not prove that half a truth sufficiently to give the 
world credence in his statement. And the " just as good " theory 
neither detracts a whit from her glory nor even dims the luster 
of the splendor of the matchless warbler of "Home, Sweet Horns.* 
Intentions and possibilities are excuses. Doing and accomplish- 
ing defend themselves. The heroes of all ages and all people 
have been those v/ho have done something for their fellow-men, 
and by it have won their admiration; men whose energy shirked 
no responsibility imposed by instinct, and whose instinct was fra- 
ternal. 

This doing for our fellows may not always consist in saving a 
nation, nor of leading successful armies. It may not be accom- 
plished in the halls of Congress nor from the pulpit. It may be 
little or great, but in the measure of it is man loved. 

Senator Hayward's life is a rebuke to those men who seem to 
think that thrift and frugality, or rather the fruit of thrift and 
frugality, is a stamp that distinguishes an enemy of human kind. 
He was a successful man in business. While the Eastern press, in 
many instances, has largely overestimated his fortune, neverthe- 
less he was, for the Middle West, considered a well-to-do man. 

But no one ever impugned his motives on that account. He 
came honestly by what he had. It was the fruit of his toilsome 
effort. 

The good that such men do is immeasurable when compared 
with the utterances of those whose only aim in life is to array 
unfortunate humanity and worthless humanity against the imagi- 
nary bugbear of capital. Capital is the fruit of head and hand. 
Motive is of the heart and makes neither rich nor poor, but in both 
alike is good or bad. 

These manipulators of popular passion depreciate every quality 
of energetic, conservative, industrious living. Such men in few 
instances do much of good for their locality or mankind in gen- 
eral. They are sterile and create nothing. They are simply cir- 
cumstances. They just stand around. 

Hike more the man who "inspires the heart;" " incites to better 
deeds; "' and whose counsel and sayings lift humanity up out of 
the quagmire of gnarling. 



30 

It- is uot difficult to be a • backer. " It is uot hard to be a lawyer 
'• who sits on the conrt-house steps and criticise the Supreme 
Court decisions." It is easy to tell how to better things. It is 
easier to condemn than to bless. It is easy to tell what ought to 
be done for the State, but it takes effort to do something for the 
Stale. 

As I have said before. Senator Ha yward wrought for the State. 
He was a successful man and a true man. 

The qualities of a true man are many, but Senator Ha ywaro had 
them. He had energy, and that was necessary, for the slug-ard 
impoverishes himself, foregoes the assistance of his neighbors, and 
merits the disrespect of all men. 

He had method, and without it energy results in much lost mo- 
tion. He gave to everything appUcation and faithfulness, and it 
was because of these qualities of a true man that he was successful; 
for, to use some one else's words— 

The ffreat higbroad of human welfare lies aloiiK the old bifjluvay of stead- 
fast welldoing: and they who are the u.ost persistent and wort in the truest 
ispirit will invariably l>e the most successful. 

Ha was attentive, punctual, and industrious, and "success is 
more often on the side of the industrious." He was honest in 
busine.ss and honest in the social world. These are the qualities 
of a true man. He possessed them, and his succe^s was an index 
that he did possess them, and not the brand of t3Tanny and op- 
pression. 

He was a veteran of the civil war. His comrades loved him. 
They had pinned their faith to him. They belie^ ed in him. They 
depended upon him for assistance and looked forward with fond- 
est hopes to the time when he should come on to Washington to 
assume the more active duties of his office. For they believed 
that he would solve some of the difficulties that stand between 
them and the Government's generosity in their declining years. 

He knew that ' ' the pension roll was a roll of honor. " He knew 
the heartaches and the suffering and the trials that it took to en- 
title one to a place thereon. 

He is dead. Our people mourn because of his death. Our State 
has lost a splendid citizen and an important factor. The nation 
is deprived of a valuable counselor: but humanity has left his 
noble example as an inspiration and hope for coming generations 

1343 

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